SPECIAL GUEST STAR - INTERNATIONAL BALLET MASTER JOSEPH MICHAEL GATTI

Formerly a Principal Dancer with the Cincinnati Ballet and Corella Ballet, and First Soloist with Boston Ballet, Joseph Gatti is the Artistic Director for the United Ballet Theatre in Orlando, FL. He was born in Warwick, New York and raised in Orlando, Florida, where he began dancing at the Orlando Ballet School and continued his training with Vadim Fedotov and Irina Depler. In 2003, he was coached by Orlando Molina for the Youth American Grand Prix Ballet Competition in New York, where he was awarded the gold medal and a scholarship to the Royal Ballet School in London. Upon graduating with honors, he received the Dame Ruth Railton Award for Excellence in Dance in 2004. After attending the American Ballet Theater Summer Intensive in 2003, he joined the American Ballet Theater Studio Company for the 2004-2005 season. In 2005, he became the first American male dancer to win the prestigious gold medal at the New York International Ballet Competition. Joseph was nominated as Best Male Dancer for the 2006 Benois de la Danse in Moscow, Russia. The Benois de la Danse is one of the most prestigious ballet competitions and was founded by the International Dance Association in Moscow in 1991. The members of this jury consist of only top ballet personages such as Carla Fracci, Alessandra Ferri, Irina Kolpakova, Yuri Grigorovich, John Neumeier and Rudolph Nureyev. That same year, he became a bronze medalist at the USA International Ballet Competition and a silver medalist at the Seoul International Ballet Competition in Korea.

THE BRIDGERTON BALL WILL FEATURE 4 ORIGINAL BALLET PIECES CHOREOGRAPHED & PERFORMED BY JOSEPH GATTI AND PRINCIPLE BALLERINA MARISOL GATTI